Letter to Brexit Secretary about the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB)

I understand the government is considering putting the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to the Commons for a vote on the principles of the Bill following a Second Reading debate. Indeed we were all told to be ready to answer a 3 line whip for this purpose on Thursday, only for this to be postponed.

I understand this is a long and complex piece of constitutional legislation which will require careful study by all those asked to improve or approve it. I would therefore urge you again to publish this Bill as soon as possible so MPs can have an intelligent debate about what it is seeking to do and how it might try to do that. Why the delay in releasing a piece of legislation for scrutiny which the government claims is so important. It must have been drafted for some time, as the draft Agreement it seeks to implement has been settled for many weeks and is not subject to renegotiation according to both the government and the EU.

The legislation presumably seeks to repeal much of the EU Withdrawal Act and will reintroduce the European Communities Act 1972 into the UK constitution to restore all EU powers for a flexible and long transitional period and maybe beyond that. It needs to make provision for the substantial sums of money the draft Agreement commits the UK to pay and for the imposition of new EU law upon the UK. It needs to confirm the powers of the Joint Committee and European Court of Justice in making important decisions about our future government and resolving disputes between the UK and the EU. These are all weighty matters which warrant proper consideration by MPs before any debate and vote on them.

The Bill could be more accurately called the “Delay our exit from the EU ” Bill, or ” The Reimposition of EU powers “Bill given the requirements of the draft Withdrawal Treaty. The Bill itself would of course need to conform precisely with the Treaty, as the Treaty will be binding in European law anyway.

Yours ever

John

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57 Comments

Our party is in terminal decline and it is mind boggling why the government wants to put the final death nail in the coffin. The Tory village idiots have caught on to the contents of the servitude plan and do no to like it. A clue to this might be in the polling. While Traitor seeks to smear me and others who stand up for democracy I think the wider public have found her out. Her underhand plan could not be bounced through three times, one with a historic defeat.

Suggest Traitor May resigns immediately and pass the issue of leaving the EU to her successor. Alternatively if you wish to gain public support seek advice from Nigel Farage. Until now the govern,won’t always appoints former Labour MPs or ministers it might be better to use the services of a conservative.
Yours smeared
JR

JRM pleads with voters to vote Tory. JRM is an intelligent soul, having voted twice for Tory to deliver Brexit in a referendum and election, not half in or half out or remain in part as TM said, why would any village idiot vote for Tory again! After all JRM caved in last time around. Discredited plea, discredited party Traitor PM. Alan Duncan stated it was a working class tantrum, Rudd says conhome type of people while sneering at the name of Ann Widecombe and Hammond calls us all extremists including leave MPs! In stark contrast before the last election Hammond will of the people must be honored and implemented. When was he lying before or after the election? Then we have Greg Clarke and Gauke writing in the Daily Mail with Rudd and finally May stating it would be unacceptable for EU elections to be held and she would not countenance it!

Marr was positivily squirming. He had no answer so just ploughed on and asked his next ‘question’. And Farage’s dismissive answer to whether the entire world should be entitled to treatment for AIDS free of charge on the NHS will have got everyone who saw it cheering.

Indeed Marr’s pathetic attempted hatched job on Farage backfired spectacularly. The BBC bias over the EU is totally overwhelming as it is on climate alarmism, lefty bogus magic money tree economics and so much else.

What has happened to the Daily Mail (I did not actually buy it), is someone at number 10 pulling the strings now at the Mail, under the new absurd editors line? Are they trying to get their circulation down in a similar way to support for the Conservative Party has fallen by 75%.

They even suggested that – Marr skewers Farage over gun laws, climate change and migrants – perhaps they were watching another interview?

Even Peter Osborne (who used to be fairly sound) seems to have gone completely potty or perhaps he watched a different interview too.

First question by Marr that he could not find anywhere Farage said no deal better than a bad deal with all his BBC researchers. Conservative Woman yesterday highlight the amount of times Farage said it!

The other willful deceit to mislead the public by Marr was to conflate the trade deal the govt were talking about at the time and May’s servitude plan that was never mentioned! May has substituted the trade deal known as the deal for her plan to be called the deal. May has not secured a trade deal whatsoever.

The political declaration under article 24 places the U.K. Under a legal obligation to discuss its future relationship on a customs union not to do so would be bad faith and actionable. May’s and the EUs trap is prepared for her successor if the rotten servitude plan is voted for, that is why she is prepared to leave. So her trap will bind her successor. JR, show me I am wrong.

Lord Rothermere ‘retired’ the previous Editor who was populist Eurosceptic and replaced him with the Mail on Sunday’s Editor who is Europhile PC virtue signaller, more to Lord R’s liking.
let’s hope its sales go rock bottom.

Well he did say when he launched his new party ‘no more Mr. Nice Guy’. I guess the BBC won’t be too keen to have Farage back again any time soon. Apart from a couple of appearances on Question Time they rarely book him anyway.

And the sheep will approve it thus ensuring the demise of the Tory Party.
May is absolutely barking mad and she continues to try and force us into a permanent non voting EU member
I fear you are going to have too physically remove her before she does any more damage

In the name of all that is good, get rid of this obdurate, limited woman and her Evil Treaty and Bill. With no ability to redress ur grievances democratically, we will be pushed to civil war – like the French

Keep plugging away John, as you are one of the few who seems clued up with what is being proposed.

Every trick in the book, and even those yet to be invented will be thrown at parliament in the next few days in order to try and get Mays surrender document, or even worse, a further modified document through, before the EU vote takes place on 23rd May.

Quite disgraceful how the normal procedures are now simply being ignored !

Mrs May has until end of October to ensure all the detail is properly examined, discussed and eventually voted on through 3 readings of the Bill. So why be coy about all MPs having the proposed ‘legislation for scrutiny which the government claims is so important’. Further delay suggests a denial of access to wording, and thus implication, attempting to coerce H of C into voting for it without proper consideration. What sort of government do we now have? Mickey Mouse, Banana Republic would be gentle descriptions. Notice of a 3 line whip is tantamount to a gun to the back of the head. So much for Democracy Mrs May.

I don’t want to be cynical (!) …….
but when one looks at ”Stephen’s” subordinates, there is a suggestive mixing of those who might be ”persuaded” (Kwasi and Robin) though they represented Leave constituencies – but Robin was always a remainer, and remains so, voting FOR Mrs May’s ”deal” three times, as did Kwasi – and the misnamed Cleverly (who was a committed ‘leaver’ with leave constituents though voted FOR May’s deal three times).
The very fact that MPs have styled themselves ”remainers” from the very beginning is quite outrageous. Having accepted the will of the people, they should ALL have styled themselves ”Leavers”.
There is NOT ONE who is honourable, true and worth his/her salt (not many ‘hers’ though).
Oh that a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a referendum for? And it certainly seems to be beyond our reach because of dishonourable people like this.

May and her sycophants hypocrites and liars making up the traitorous band in government and part of the Tory HoC are not listening to you and will not listen to you.

You are an irritant to them certainly and your message is heard out in the real world which they don’t wish to inhabit but you should not give them succour by remaining a loyal Tory. You will gradually become tainted yourself. People will also ask if your lead can be relied upon if you stick like glue to a party which in the majority is contemptuous of the people and our democracy.

And please don’t be tempted to attack Mr Farage and the Brexit party as you did with him and UKIP.

Reply I did not attack UKIP, merely explained why voting Conservative would get us a referendum which was true

I predicted several weeks ago that the ‘dirty tricks’ would get more and more devious and Theresa May is becoming a very spiteful woman and there is nothing more dangerous.

She has tried and failed three times to get her dreadful WA passed with varying degrees of blackmail. Now she is keeping to her threat that if her deal cannot be passed then we won’t have Brexit.

She is destroying the Conservative party and knows that it is going to get thrashed in the EU elections so she is going to punish all those who vote for the Brexit party and all 17.4 million who voted to leave.

She is acting like dictator and is playing cat and mouse with the 1922 committee. All MPs who value democracy should change the rules and kick her out asap. If you don’t, you will be as guilty as she in wrecking this country’s future for many years to come.

Her latest plan is to shoe-horn a Bill through without scrutiny, hoping that a remainer parliament will override the democratic vote of the people – or, apparently, to hold a series of binding votes that will allow the remainer parliament to cobble together some other way to remain.

It is about time you wrote a piece stating how you (we, the UK) will withdraw from this Treaty if this woman somehow slides it through.

It is also time you raised the issue of votes by convicted criminals. Onasanya’s deciding vote it the (ridiculous) Bill to take No Deal off the table should be retrospectively voided – I understand that being there was against the terms of her bail and in any case, she was deselected – the only reason she was still an MP is that the process took longer than it should.

The rock is the electorate who stubbornly refuse to be taken in by our party’s line on Brexit, that this feeble-minded WA amounts to anything more than servitude, and the hard place is all those chaps and ladies who would be mightily inconvenienced if we actually left the EU (supplies of migrants for downstairs, pensions, trips and twinning would all be threatened) and of course the overwhelmingly important establishment project to impose first EU then global law on us all.

Then there is this pesky chap Farage, who’s put his head above water again, spouting all sorts of facts which us Conservative MPs would rather keep in the tent than have them p-ssed in from outside.

The problem with all this is, that in a democratic society we don’t quite get the final say. Your boss might disagree, but the electorate is our real boss. Whatever deal you and she cook together and squeeze through Parliament to please the party, this WILL come home to roost.

The polls are bad enough already; just think what’ll happen if she manages to conjur up some trick which clearly goes against the will of the people!

May and her cronies are not listening to you or the 17 million who voted Brexit we have had enough of this BS.
Its not the Tory party anymore John why don’t you see this?
Its like a ‘new’ Lib Dem party.

More betrayal by the Tory Government,
The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy this month released its proposals for “a UK Emissions Trading System” after Brexit. Currently the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme covers over 1,000 installations in UK, including steel, cement, and power stations – meaning the number of credits issued and withdrawn by the EU Commission goes a long way to determine the price of energy and construction in the UK. Brexiteers would be forgiven for thinking that by leaving we would take back control of our own energy pricing…
Uber-Remainer Greg Clarke has had other ideas. His BEIS department has proposed that a UK Scheme should ‘link’ to the EU system, pegging it to the EU price and therefore giving the EU Commission power to raise household energy and construction prices in the UK even after we’ve left.

I’ve realised that our party has been entirely infiltrated by Lib Dems with a lust for power, but who are neither Liberal or Democratic.

I have decided to cross the floor and sit as a member of The Brexit Party, to fight for what is left of our democracy.

Our sacred duty was to preserve and pass on the rights of a free people. Instead, our Lib Dem leadership has started negotiations with a revolutionary Marxist in order to frustrate and overturn the largest vote in our history.

“The Bill itself would of course need to conform precisely with the Treaty, as the Treaty will be binding in European law anyway.”
Which presumably means the Bill is unamendable.
In that case, MPs might as well stay away from the chamber and only turn up when the division bell rings, as no meaningful parliamentary debate would be possible.
Kenneth Clarke famously said “I look forward to the day when the Westminster Parliament is just a Council Chamber in Europe”.
And now it’s not even that.

Amazing that Mrs Thatcher, a great Prime Minister, was effectively ousted by her cabinet and yet Mrs May, probably the worst Prime Minister in history, wreaks damage on your party, our country and its democracy on a daily basis and carries on regardless.
Perhaps not so amazing when you realise that Mrs Thatcher had turned against the EU, whilst Mrs May is doing all she can to keep us under its control despite the EU referendum result.

It is not amazing at all when it is borne in mind that a majority of Conservative MPs are EU supporters.

As a result Mrs. Thatcher was ousted by EU supporting Conservative MPs when she turned against the EU whilst Mrs. May is kept in power by these EU supporting Conservative MPs.

Anyone who wants Brexit should never again vote for any EU supporting candidate including those who support Mrs. May’s/the EU’s new treaty (aka the WA) where we submit to EU laws, taxes, budgetary commitments and fines, allow the EU to decide our trade, energy, environmental, immigration and foreign policies all without any representation or veto and with no lawful means of exit.

So this is the latest attempt to ‘ratify’ the surrender Treaty, unlawfully signed in November – to vote on the ‘principles’ of the Bill itself, without any further detail? These ‘principles’ will, of course, be the same principles as the WA which was voted down three times, and before the bribery by the largest defeat in history.
I see that she’s also now going to try and force through a PR system of indicative votes to reach a ‘consensus’ of remain. Except none of it is what was voted for in the referendum, which was to leave the EU. This is what happens when remainers ‘negotiate’ leaving. Their one aim is to ensure continued EU control & their place at the trough.
I’m sick of hearing the word ‘compromise’. It was leave or remain. We leave or we don’t leave. If we don’t leave, the pollies will not be forgiven. Democracy must be restored & those responsible for this shambles held to account.

Sir John, I understand your loyalty to your party and your constituents but I would say that as a brave member of the Spartans it is now time you approach every news outlet in the U.K. to denounce Theresa May and her perfidious attempts at bouncing the HOC into this disastrous trap. You must speak out about this so the general public can see what she is doing. Your followers here are the converted, now is the time for you and other MPs who refuse to subject themselves to this tyranny to inform the British public just what is going on. I understand you would find it difficult to cross the floor, but some rear guard action is now required. TM and her boiler room tactics taint this country and its reputation.

Reply I am clearly setting out what is wrong with Mrs May’s approach to Brexit and have repeatedly analysed the Withdrawal Treaty and explained why I will help block it.

What you about the changes to UK law needed to enact the WA, brings home the extent of the treachery and subversion being attempted upon us.
Mrs May and those MPs who support her have abused the trust placed in them on being elected on a manifesto to fully leave the EU.

Sir John,
This is all just verbiage being ignored. It is clear May and CCHQ with the Payrollers do not care for their own country or party.
You must split the Brexiteers and true Conservatives including the localAssocitaions away from these poisonous people and sit in the House with your own Whip and support No Confidence in May to save what is left – TBP results on the 23rd are only the beginning.

Can you confirm or deny that, just as soon as the Brexit Party demonstrates that it is a credible government in waiting, you will resign your seat, explain to your constituents why you are doing so, and stand for the Brexit Party in the subsequent by election?

I have not had time to study and discuss it to a level sufficient to satisfy myself that it is as it needs to be, when we consider its profound effect on the future of our country. Therefore I cannot, in all conscience, do other than vote against it at this time and reserve judgement to a future date when I have fully assessed the content of this document.

Furthermore, I respectfully suggest that this must be the position of all MPs who put their country above party or self.

You have some really great posts and I think I would be a good asset.
If you ever want to take some of the load off,
I’d really like to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back
to mine. Please send me an e-mail if interested. Kudos!

Reply This is my site and I use it to communicate my views and actions. I don’t need a ghost writer to tell me what to think.

About John Redwood

John Redwood won a free place at Kent College, Canterbury, and graduated from Magdalen College Oxford. He is a Distinguished fellow of All Souls, Oxford. A businessman by background, he has set up an investment management business, was both executive and non executive chairman of a quoted industrial PLC, and chaired a manufacturing company with factories in Birmingham, Chicago, India and China. He is the MP for Wokingham, first elected in 1987.